Sub Pop (2011) The musical reincarnation of Ishmael Butler, the elusive Seattle rapper who makes up one-third of the semi-popular '90s jazz-rap act Digable Planets under the name Butterfly, is a lot to unpack. By CARRIE BATTAN | June 09, 2011

Peacefrog (2011) There is an odd paradox in the modern Western way of appreciating music-as-art: musical pieces that get enshrined on top of the pillar of "art" tend to be those with little-to-no practical utility. Thus, no genre is treated quite as disposably as dance music, even though much of society's fringe movers reside there. By DANIEL BROCKMAN | June 09, 2011

Sony Masterworks (2011) If you like your summer soundtrack replete with the familial, genre-stir-fried Good Life incarnate, then this CD is right in your friggin' wheelhouse. By ZETH LUNDY | June 09, 2011

Souterrain Transmissions (2011) This hasn't been a bad year for music, but there haven't been a lot of songs that hit in such a way that there's a physical need to hear them again — immediately. But Past Life Martyred Saints, the solo debut from former Gowns frontlady Erika M. Andersen, conveniently shortened to EMA and pronounced in acronym-form, does have such a song. By RYAN STEWART | June 09, 2011

Downtown Records (2011) White Denim's D just won't be ignored. The Austin quartet's fourth studio LP is an album so dense, so unstoppably kinetic, that the flurry of movement makes background listening impossible. By REYAN ALI | June 07, 2011

Saddle Creek (2011) On their debut, Hometowns, Toronto's Rural Alberta Advantage sounded like a band in search of an identity. It was a bit of a mess, but there were moments when they seemed to be onto something. So surely the improved focus on Departing must be to their benefit, no? By RYAN STEWART | March 23, 2011

Chunksaah Records (2011) Jack Terricloth once likened playing in a band to being married and having a full-time job. Hence, his World/Inferno Friendship Society fashion themselves a kooky circus punk co-op, not a band. By BARRY THOMPSON | March 17, 2011

429 (2011) The new New York Dolls have now been around longer - and released more albums (three) - than the old New York Dolls, and they're commemorating that new longevity by letting go of any compulsion they may have still harbored to honor their designation as "punk-rock progenitors." By JEFF TAMARKIN | March 17, 2011

Sub Pop (2011) There's a fine line in the post-punk instrumental world between mind-blowing musical ecstasy and, uh, whatever is playing underneath the guy who says, "Well, there's an app for that." By DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 17, 2011

Ernest Jenning Record Co. (2011) Hey, it's another Robert Pollard record. Today must be a day. We can't even joke about how prolific this guy is because we've heard 'em all a million billion times already. By GARRETT MARTIN | March 09, 2011

Byelobog Productions (2011) Illegible as they are ubiquitous (anywhere a patch meets denim or a bored headbanger's head meets a study-hall desk), metal logos are the ultimate example of form over function. By JANSSEN MCCORMICK | March 09, 2011

Def Jam (2010) Let's be honest here: the average human doesn't care about RiRi's need to express her artistic personality through music and would be more psyched if it were just 11 versions of "Don't Stop the Music." By DANIEL BROCKMAN | November 09, 2010

Matador (2010) As the obviousness of Write About Love 's title implies (it could have been called Play and Sing! ), Belle & Sebastian are looking to get back to basics with their first album since 2005's tremendous The Life Pursuit . By JONATHAN DONALDSON | October 12, 2010